News Analysis: Bringing Palestinian cause international effective option for leadership: analysts

By Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel urged the Palestinian leadership to develop new strategies in response to Trump's policies and to keep the Palestinian cause alive, analysts said.

Early this week, the Central Council of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) held a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, during which it proposed to the PLO executive committee to cease security coordination with Israel and to suspend the recognition of Israel, until the latter recognizes the State of Palestine.

However, Palestinian analysts did not consider the recommendations of the Central Council powerful enough to cope with Trump's Jerusalem decision or Israel's occupation of the holy city.

One of the effective options for the Palestinian leadership, according to analysts, is to bring the Palestinian cause international by including the United Nations in the peace process, even if it is likely to draw opposition and obstruction from Trump and his allies.

MORE RESISTANCE TO DRAW WORLD ATTENTION

Talal Oukal, a Gaza-based political analyst, believed that it is essential to boost the peaceful popular protests and resistance against Israel to draw attention worldwide, which could be exert serious pressure on the Jewish state.

"Practically speaking, the important thing now is to rebuild the internal Palestinian front, including PLO reform, finalizing reconciliation, achieving Palestinian unity and improving ties with Arab, European and Asian countries," said Oukal.

He added that talks on negotiations, peace process or holding international conferences are "useless and a waste of time and will be for publish relations only."

"As the United States is an ally of Israel, the Palestinians should look for new options, including popular resistance," he concluded.

BID FOR FULL UNGA MEMBERSHIP

Abdul Majid Sweilem, a West Bank political science professor, argued that an effective measure could be an immediate request to the UN Security Council for a full recognition of an independent Palestinian state established on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"If the United States vetoes against the bid at the UNSC, the Palestinians should apply to the UN General Assembly. Depending on previous experience, the Palestinians would gain an overwhelming vote of Yes at the General Assembly for promotion of a non-member observer state to a member state," he said.

The UN General Assembly's recognition of Palestine as a member state will exert tremendous political pressure of the international community on both Israel and the United States, said Sweilem.

He said that besides requesting the full membership of the State of Palestine in the UN General Assembly, the Palestinian leadership should carry on with achieving more full membership in various international agencies and in signing on international treaties.

LOOK FOR NEW PEACE DEAL SPONSOR

One of the options that analysts, politicians and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas talked about, was to look for a new international sponsor to replace the United States, which clearly showed its pro-Israel biased policies in its decision over Jerusalem.

Analysts agreed that neither Israel nor the United States would accept a new sponsor for the peace process in the Middle East, particularly after Trump declared that he is preparing the deal of the century, which was considered by Abbas as "the slap of the century."

"The Palestinians should bring their cause global and preview the legal aspects of all the peace agreements signed between Israel and the PLO, as Trump's declaration has already violated the peace deals previously sponsored by the United States," said Mekhemer Abu Se'da, a Palestinian political science professor.

He went on saying that 25 years of signing Oslo peace accords with endless negotiations did not improve the Palestinian situation, nor did it press Israel to take any positive steps towards the Palestinian cause.

"The price that the Palestinians had paid for 25 years was high without achieving anything," he added. Enditem